Updated September 4, 2026. Quick answer: Indiana Code § 29-1-10-13 lets a will set the personal representative’s compensation, and if it does, that provision is the full fee unless the representative files a written renunciation before qualifying. Absent a will provision, or after a valid renunciation, the probate court allows whatever compensation it deems just and reasonable. The same just and reasonable standard also covers an attorney’s fee for estate work.
The statute, and what it does not do
Ind. Code § 29-1-10-13 does not set a percentage or a fee schedule. It gives two paths to compensation: whatever the will provides, or, if there is no will provision or the representative renounces it, whatever the court deems just and reasonable. Indiana leaves the reasonable-compensation determination to the court’s discretion without an enumerated list of factors in the statute.
Who actually decides, and the will’s veto
If the will sets the personal representative’s pay, that figure is the full compensation, plain and simple, unless the representative files a written instrument renouncing all claim to it before qualifying as personal representative. Renounce in time and the statute’s just and reasonable standard applies instead, decided by the probate court. The statute also treats attorney work as a separate track: a personal representative who acts as attorney for the estate, or who hires one, can receive additional just and reasonable compensation for that attorney work, on top of the personal representative’s own fee, not instead of it. Fee requests are not limited to the end of the case either; a personal representative or attorney may apply to the court for an allowance on compensation at any time during administration, ahead of final settlement.
What that means in practice
Check the will’s compensation clause before doing anything else: if it names a fee, that is the fee, and the only way out of it is a written renunciation filed before qualifying. If there is no will provision, or the renunciation is filed, be ready to justify the fee to the probate court under the just and reasonable standard rather than pointing to a percentage. If the representative is doing attorney work on the estate too, keep the two roles’ time and compensation requests separate. And if the estate is a long one, there is no need to wait for final settlement to ask the court for an interim allowance.
What the whole process costs in this state: Indiana probate cost. Every state’s fee model side by side: probate cost by state.
Work out the number: the executor fee calculator. How the standard is applied where no schedule exists: reasonable-compensation states. Whether to take the fee at all: when the executor is also an heir, and how the fee is taxed.
Statutory text read at each state’s own legislature or official code publisher. General information, not legal advice; a court retains the final say on what compensation is allowed.
Related: whether Indiana requires the executor to post a bond.